Yulio and Rachel – Spring in DC

For this couple I scheduled two shoots, one on a rooftop in downtown DC and the second at sunset in West Potomac Park with a few of the emerging cherry blossoms. We had a late spring in DC this year as it was still very cold the first week in April. I scheduled one spring cherry blossom shoot and they hadn’t bloomed yet. For the second shoot with this wonderful couple I shot them at sunset with a few cherry blossoms that had just peaked. I loved both shoots with this very accommodating couple but I must admit the sunset images on the Potomac River are my favorite!

Yulio Jeisson Gamonal Gutierrez, Business Manager – Latin Dance instructor/Choreographer/Promoter native of Ica-Peru, currently living in Washington, District of Columbia. He has studied and teaches Latin dance such as Tango, Salsa ON1, Mambo, Cha-cha-cha, Cumbia and Merengue, but he is locally well recognized in the DMV area for his effort and success to promote Bachata into the dance community. He learned some valuable techniques from some of the best DMV tango teachers such as Pablo Fontana and Carina Losano from BA, Argentina. Trained by Gabryel and Begonia from Spain, he has attended numerous workshops with masters from Island Touch dance Academy “George and Tanja from Miami” and taught students from all over the DMV area for over 5 years.

As a patient instructor, Yulio teaches the styles of Dominican Bachata, Urban-Bachata, and BachaTango which is very elegant and dynamic, while at the same time relaxed, comfortable, enjoyable, and accessible to everyone. His natural ability and his training with some of the greatest instructors from the DMV area give him a unique capacity to instill his students with a deep feeling for the subtle nuances of Latin dances. He emphasizes contact and communication between dancers (becoming a great leader and follower) so that they move together in rhythm and harmony. Under his guidance, students realize a new feeling for music and movement, and they come to enjoy the sensations, which have made Bachata now one of the most popular dances and art for future generations.

Rachel Lynn Moore, Economist – Dance performer, and Choreographer assistant she is a native of Maryland-USA.  Active performer with DMV Sensation student group and member of Island Touch Team Lady Styling.
Our mission is to build a great group of people who love dancing and would like to share their passion with the world by promoting dancing as an awesome entertainment, physical activity, and healthy life style.
Our vision is to see a future diverse and thriving Latin dance community dancing free from discrimination, expand the social dance culture and network with more dancers around the world.

MARACUYA DANCE COMPANY = Passion Fruit Dance Company
Passion is ambition that is materialized into action to put as much heart, mind, body and soul into something as is possible.

Description

Maracuyá = Passion Fruit
*Passion – is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement
*Fruit – The sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“The aesthetic pleasure of dance

is a secondary reflection of the

primary, vital joy of courtship.”

– Havelock Ellis

Jennifer – Spring: West Potomac Park

Jennifer’s shoot was our first shoot in 2013 for Poetry of Motion. I had originally planed to shoot her with the Cherry Blossoms in bloom as is typical for the first week of April in DC, but the cold spring delayed their appearance. We shot some beautiful images nonetheless including one with the only cherry tree in bloom we found!

Jennifer is currently a ballet teacher at Ballet Petite and Youth Performing Arts School, as well as a dancer with the Classical Repertory Dance Theatre based in Washington, DC. Jennifer has extensive training in ballet, modern, and jazz dance. In addition, Jennifer is a graduate student working toward her doctorate in Pharmacy.

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

         “I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what is too deep to find words for.”

-Ruth St. Denis

Caroline Grace – Asaph Dance Ensemble

Our last shoot for 2012 was with a talented young dancer who we have shot before, Caroline Grace! I wanted to do some formal studio shots in black and white or at least more mono-chromatic images. Grace and the Owner of her studio, The Asaph Dance Ensemble in Manassas Va., both graciously agreed to help. It was a rainy day and I had my nephew along to learn studio lighting techniques and to carry the heavy equipment! I love these images and hope you do as well!

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!”

~Psalm 149:3

Heather – Historic Occoquan

This shoot for “Poetry of Motion” was one of our last for 2012, I did not shoot as many dancers for this project in 2012 as I did in 2011 as we were very busy in the studio. This Very talented dancer danced for a local ballet theatre before moving from the area, I was very fortunate to fit a shoot with her in before she moved as I had been trying to shoot her for this project all year. I had a tight window of free time for this shoot as well as two kids with me, I told you I really wanted to shoot her for this project! I loved the way her images turned out, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.”
-Mikhail Baryshnikov

Nancy C – Cherry Blossoms

Nothing says spring in Washington DC like the blooming of the Japanese Cherry Blossoms. This shoot for “Poetry of Motion” is our second shoot featuring the Cherry Blossoms Downtown. For this shoot we chose a very talented dancer and model Nancy, the beauty of the cherry blossoms pales in comparison to the beauty of this talented artist.

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul”
― Martha Graham

Sara – Chapman’s Mill

The first shoot for “Poetry of Motion” in 2012 was of one of our favorite ballerina’s and a regular model for this project, Sara Gaydash. I chose the Historic Chapman’s/Beverly Mill in Thoroughfare Gap on the Prince William and Fauquier Counties Virginia line to shoot this very talented dancer. I have wanted to shoot at this historic mill for many years and I was very pleased with the following images.

“Chapman’s Mill was built in 1742 by Jonathan and Nathaniel Chapman, a father/son partnership from an enterprising, well-connected colonial family, which founded the city of Alexandria in 1749. Expanded in 1758, the mill became a prosperous gristmill that led to the development of the Shenandoah Valley as a wheat and corn producing region for the next one hundred years. Due to the mill’s location between the Valley and the city of Alexandria, corn and wheat could be transported efficiently by wagon to the mill, ground into cornmeal and wheat, and then shipped from Alexandria to growing markets in Europe and South America.
In 1759 Fauquier County was created from old Prince William County, and the related documents noted that the boundary between the two counties passed through the mill, as it does today. The prosperity of the mill was enhanced when, in 1852, the Manassas Gap Railroad was completed, passing beside the mill and reducing the travel time to Alexandria. In 1858 the Chapmans enlarged the mill, raising it to a total of seven stories and making it a model of agricultural technology. Chapman’s Mill has ground cornmeal and flour for American troops during seven wars: The French and Indian, the Revolutionary, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II.”*

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”

– Plato

* – http://www.chapmansmill.org

Maggie – Academy of Russian Ballet – Maggie

Earlier in the year I shot two very talented young dancers at the Academy of Russian Ballet in Manassas, Va. I was very pleased with the first shoot and made arrangements to shoot another one of their wonderful dancers, I was not disappointed. The fine art image below is from that shoot and is one of my favorite from this current Art-Dance project.

I shot the base image for this art print after a two day Christmas Portrait Sitting for the Academy’s dancers. Maggie was lit with two studio lights from the sitting and worked with me for 45 minutes to capture several shots I had in mind for an eventual art print. Back in the studio, this image jumped off the screen at me, I isolated the image and replaced the background in Photoshop and this image was born! This print is for sale in our online store and has been a very popular item!

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

Maggie – Clouds

“Think of the magic of that foot

upon which your whole weight rests.

It’s a miracle and the dance

is a celebration of that miracle.”

– Martha Graham

 

Sara – Front Royal

It was a beautiful fall day in The Shenandoah Valley when I shot Sara for her last shoot with Poetry of Motion of 2011. The light was beautiful, the  temperature was perfect and it was a wonderfully warm autumn day in the valley. There were a few technical difficulties with equipment at the beginning of our shoot but Sara was patient while I corrected the problems and I believe the images captured are some of the best from her shoots.

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“Dancing with the feet is one thing,
but dancing with the heart is another.”
-Anonymous

Katie – Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

On a breezy October Day I met Katie and her Mother in Baltimore for this beautiful shoot. Katie is a beautiful young dancer and model who was truly a pleasure to work with. Her Mother saw my ad for dancers to be featured in this Poetry of Motion project and contacted me about her interest. Upon viewing her headshot I thought Katie would bring a fresh young perspective to this project and was of course very interested in working with her. It was a gorgeous late fall day in Baltimore when our busy schedules allowed us to work together, there was a nice breeze which in several of the images really impart a sense of movement to Katie’s posing. She was a true professional and we wish Katie all the best in her future endeavors and I’m sure we will work together again in this business!

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“Master technique

and then forget about it and be natural.”

– Anna Pavlova

Kinikia – Nottoway Park-Vienna, VA

In the late fall of 2011 I was contacted by Kinikia of DC Hippodrome for Tropical Shows, to participate in my Poetry of Motion Art Project. She is a Polynesian and fire dancer and of course I was excited to add a different flair to this dance project. I really wanted to do a fire dance shoot with this talented performer but due to permitting and availability we were unable to schedule but we set up a Polynesian shoot at Nottoway Park in Vienna, Virginia. I love the rich vibrant colors of her costumes and enjoyed shooting these uniquely beautiful dance portraits to share with you.

We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoying sharing them with you and we hope you consider supporting this project to bring the beauty of dance to a wider audience by purchasing one of our limited edition prints at our website: www.bpaydenphotography.com/store

“Dance is the song of the body.”
-Martha Graham